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Written by: Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis (written by), Rick Moranis (uncredited)
Directed by: Ivan Reitman
Starring: Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, Annie Potts, William Atherton, Ernie Hudson
Rated: PG
Watch the trailer
Plot
Three former parapsychology professors set up shop as a unique ghost removal service.
Verdict
Few movies can blend comedy and fantasy like Ghostbusters while suspending disbelief. The humor is subtle, but easily quotable. Murray's delivery on almost every line is comedic in of itself. While Murray ad-libs a lot of his lines, the script creates a great foundation for the movie. The concept is genius. Most of all the movie is just fun, every single time. The car and props are unparalleled, still instantly recognizable years later. The most impressive feat is that this movie feels grounded despite the foes the Ghostbusters face.
Watch it.
Review
This is one of my all time favorites. I've seen this movie many, many times. I'm not sure at what point I finally got past the library ghost portion of the movie, but I do wonder why my parents let me continually start the movie only to run screaming from the room when ghost transformed. I don't even think I was school age then.
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| Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Bill Murray play Ray Stantz, Egon Spengler, Pete Venkman. |
Pete Venkman (Bill Murray) regards science as a hustle. In his first scene he's torturing a guy for his own amusement just to flirt with a girl. The funny thing is that the guy seems to be responding to the experiment, predicting what's on hidden cards. Venkman doesn't care. He likes messing with people. Ray (Dan Aykroyd) who's more excited than a kid on his birthday, interrupts Pete's experiment because they've found something. This movie clearly characterizes each character. You can begin to predict how each character would react in a given situation.
The dialog is great. Pete sarcastic indifference bleeds through each line. Murray ad-libbed most of his lines, but his indifference to what should be his life's work as a scientist creates even more depth to the comedy. On a line by line basis few movies are funnier. While that probably depends on what you find funny, this isn't slapstick comedy, it's subtle. Watch how characters react and how characters react in the background. Factoring that Murray made up a lot of his lines combined with his reactions, he delivers a great performance.
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| Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson play the Ghostbusters. |
An influential aspect of the movie is the props. The car, proton packs, and jumpsuits are absolutely iconic. It's not just a great concept, but great execution. The packs don't look dated even thirty years later.
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| Well, that's something you don't see every day. |
The comedy combines with the sci-fi concept of catching ghosts. That aspect isn't played for laughs. Every time I see this movie I'm impressed how it sustains suspension of disbelief. Describing this story and a fifty foot marshmallow man seems ridiculous, but in the world this movie creates it never seems outlandish. This movie is surprisingly grounded despite the plot, and Harold Ramis is a big part of that. Aykroyd's original script saw this set in the future where "ghostbusters" were as common place as fireman. Ramis reduced the scope and the budget. A big budget, effect heavy comedy wasn't a thing many people predicted to succeed.
I love this movie. You could call it luck or fate that everything came together as it did, that Ramis and Aykroyd paired up on the script or that the props department was able to create what they did or that Ray Parker Jr. created a mega hit with the theme song.
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